Rovio’s Mikael Hed launches Kaiken Entrtainment, buys from Rovio the TV animation department from Vancouver and the publishing unit in Helsinki.

Mikael Hed, the founder and former CEO of Rovio Entertainment, the company behind the Angry Birds title announced launching a new entertainment company, Kaiken Entertainment, with focus on animation, publishing, and apps.

At the same time, the new company, which is headed by Mikael Hed, has purchased Rovio’s TV animation studio in Vancouver and Rovio’s book publishing business as well as certain non-Angry Birds properties. The transaction is part of the ongoing reorganization of Rovio’s Animation Division.

Kaiken Entertainment will subsequently have two offices, in Helsinki and in Vancouver.

Mikael Hed:

“‘Kaiken’ in Finnish means ‘everything, and alludes to the vision of the company. We want to be a 360-degree entertainment company. To me that means that while we’re starting from a story driven standpoint, we also want to create properties like amusement park rides, games or merchandise

Kaiken Entertainment will continue to partner with Rovio in making short-form animation and serving as the master licensee of the Angry Birds brand in publishing. “We are very happy with our collaboration with Rovio, but we will also be working with a number of other companies, so we are not in an exclusive relationship, so to speak."

Hed, who stepped down as CEO of Rovio in 2014, has served as executive chairman for Rovio Animation since 2015, focusing on bringing “The Angry Birds Movie” to the big screen and will continue to work on its sequel. He will serve as executive chairman of Kaiken Entertainment from Los Angeles, and will transition out of his role at Rovio by summer.

Kaiken Publishing CEO Laura Nevanlinna will be head of franchise and portfolio Development in Helsinki. Veteran Rovio producers Ulla Junell and Joonas Rissanen, who built the Vancouver operation, have been appointed president of Kaiken Canada and Kaiken’s creative director respectively.

Kaiken will continue to partner with Rovio on certain projects including producing Angry Birds content and serving as the master licensee of the Angry Birds brand in books publishing.